Precoding resource block group bundling enhancement for full dimension multi-in-multi-output

ABSTRACT

A method comprises configuring a transmission mode for a user equipment (UE) based on user equipment specific reference signals (UE-RS) and configuring one or more precoding resource groups; and providing a dynamic indication to indicate which precoding resource group is valid for a physical downlink shared channel.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/820,879, filed Aug. 7, 2015, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/109,198, filed Jan. 29, 2015, bothdisclosures are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards andprotocols to transmit data between a base transceiver station (BTS) anda wireless mobile device. In the third generation partnership project(3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) systems, the BTS may be an evolved NodeBs (eNode Bs or eNBs) that may communicate with the wireless mobiledevice, known as a user equipment (UE).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention described herein is illustrated by way of example and notby way of limitation in the accompanying figures. For simplicity andclarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures are notnecessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some elementsmay be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further,where considered appropriate, reference labels have been repeated amongthe figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a high-level example of a networksystem comprising a UE and an eNB, in accordance with variousembodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic structure of a downlink physical channelin accordance with an example;

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram of a downlink resource grid according to anembodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates a mapping of a demodulation reference signal andantenna ports according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a method in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of a method in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of a method in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a block diagram of a mobilecommunication device in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 9 illustrates an electronic device circuitry according to anembodiment; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow chart of a method in accordance with anembodiment.

Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, andspecific language will be used herein to describe the same. It willnevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of theinvention is thereby intended.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the present invention is disclosed and described, it is to beunderstood that this invention is not limited to the particularstructures, process steps, or materials disclosed herein, but isextended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by thoseordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understoodthat terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describingparticular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. The samereference numerals in different drawings represent the same element.

References in the specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”,“an example embodiment”, etc., indicate that the embodiment describedmay include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, butevery embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of oneskilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristicin connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware, firmware,software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments of the invention mayalso be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium,which may be read and executed by one or more processors. Amachine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputing device). For example, a non-transitory machine-readable mediummay include read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magneticdisk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices. Foranother example, a transitory machine-readable medium may includeelectrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals(e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.), andothers.

The following description may include terms, such as first, second, etc.that are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construedas limiting. As used herein, the term “module” and/or “unit” may referto, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group)and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or moresoftware or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/orother suitable components that provide the described functionality.

Further, various operations will be described as multiple discreteoperations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understandingthe illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description shouldnot be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily orderdependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in theorder of presentation.

An initial overview of technology embodiments is provided below and thenspecific technology embodiments are described in further detail later.This initial summary is intended to aid readers in understanding thetechnology more quickly but is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the technology nor is it intended to limit thescope of the claimed subject matter. The following definitions areprovided for clarity of the overview and embodiments described below.

In 3GPP radio access network (RAN) LTE systems, the transmission stationmay be an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)Node Bs (also commonly denoted as evolved Node Bs, enhanced Node Bs,eNodeBs, or eNBs), which may communicate with a wireless mobile device,known as a user equipment (UE). A downlink (DL) transmission may be acommunication from the transmission station (or eNodeB) to the wirelessmobile device (or UE), and an uplink (UL) transmission may be acommunication from the wireless mobile device to the transmissionstation.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices andsystems, for example, a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Device (MD), awireless station (STA), a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, amobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tabletcomputer, a Smartphone device, a server computer, a handheld computer, ahandheld device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheldPDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, avehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, aconsumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wirelesscommunication station, a wireless communication device, a wirelessAccess Point (AP), a wireless node, a base station (BS), a wired orwireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audiodevice, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, awireless area network, a cellular network, a cellular node, a cellulardevice, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Multiple Input MultipleOutput (MIMO) transceiver or device, a device having one or moreinternal antennas and/or external antennas, Digital Video Broadcast(DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, awired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a Smartphone, a WirelessApplication Protocol (WAP) device, vending machines, sell terminals, andthe like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types ofwireless communication signals and/or systems, for example, RadioFrequency (RF), Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM), Orthogonal FDM(OFDM), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA),Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA),Extended TDMA (E-TDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), extendedGPRS, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, Multi-Carrier Modulation(MDM), Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT), Bluetooth®, Global Positioning System(GPS), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Wi-Max, ZigBee™, Ultra-Wideband (UWB),Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), second generation (2G),2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, 4.5G, Fifth Generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP,Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular system, LTE advance cellular system,High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High-Speed Uplink PacketAccess (HSUPA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), HSPA+, Single CarrierRadio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO),Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), and the like. Otherembodiments may be used in various other devices, systems and/ornetworks.

Some demonstrative embodiments are described herein with respect to aLTE network. However, other embodiments may be implemented in any othersuitable cellular network or system, e.g., a Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) cellular system, a GSM network, a 3Gcellular network, a 4G cellular network, a 4.5G network, a 5G cellularnetwork, a WiMax cellular network, and the like.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a wireless communication network 100 inaccordance with various embodiments. Wireless communication network 100(hereinafter “network 100”) may be an access network of a 3GPP LTEnetwork such as evolved universal terrestrial radio access network(E-UTRAN). The network 100 may include a base station, e.g., eNB 110that may wirelessly communicate with a mobile wireless device, e.g., UE120.

In one embodiment, the eNB 110 may include one or more antennas 118, oneor more radio modules or units (not shown) to modulate and/or demodulatesignals transmitted or received on an air interface, and one or moredigital modules or units (not shown) to process signals transmitted andreceived on the air interface. As shown in FIG. 1, the eNB 120 mayinclude a controller 114. The controller 114 may be coupled with atransmitter 112 and a receiver 116 and/or one or more communicationsmodules or units in eNB 120. The transmitter 112 and/or the receiver 116may be further coupled with one or more antennas 118 of the eNB 110 tocommunicate wirelessly with other components of the network 100, e.g.,UE 120.

In one embodiment, the UE 120 may comprise a transmitter 122 and areceiver 126 and/or one or more communications modules or units. Thetransmitter 122 and/or the receiver 126 may be further coupled with oneor more antennas 128 of the UE 120 to communicate wirelessly with one ormore components of the network 100, e.g., a base station (BS), anevolved Node B (eNB), e.g., the eNB 110, or other type of wireless widearea network (WWAN) access point. For example, UE 120 may be asubscriber station that is configured to concurrently utilize radioresources across multiple carriers such as in a carrier aggregationscheme using protocols compatible with the 3GPP standards including, forexample, Long Term Evolution (LTE) including LTE Advanced or variantsthereof. In various embodiments, the UE 120 may further comprise one ormore radio modules or units (not shown) to modulate and/or demodulatesignals transmitted or received on an air interface, and one or moredigital modules or units (not shown) to process signals transmitted andreceived on the air interface. The mobile device may include one or moreantennas configured to communicate with.

In various embodiments, eNB 110 and/or UE 120 may support multiple-inputand multiple-output (MIMO) communication with each other. For example,eNB 110 and/or UE 120 may comprise one or more antennas to utilize oneor more radio resources of the wireless communication network 100. TheUEs may communicate using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access(OFDMA) (e.g., in the downlink) and/or Single-Carrier Frequency DivisionMultiple Access (SC-FDMA) (e.g., in the uplink) in some embodiments.

In various embodiments, examples of UE 120 may comprise a mobile devicesuch as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tabletcomputing device, a netbook, a smartphone, a wearable device, a mobilestation (MS), a mobile wireless device, a mobile communication device, asmartphone, a tablet, a handset, a cellular phone, a mobile phone, apersonal computer (PC), a notebook, an ultra mobile PC (UMPC), ahandheld mobile device, an universal integrated circuit card (UICC), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), orother consumer electronics such as MP3 players, digital cameras and thelike, personal computing accessories and existing and future arisingwireless mobile devices which may be related in nature and to which theprinciples of the embodiments could be suitably applied.

In various embodiments, the UE 120 may communicate using one or morewireless communication standards including Third Generation PartnershipProject Long Term Evolution (3GPP LTE), Worldwide interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Bluetooth,WiFi, or other wireless standards. The UE 120 may communicate usingseparate antennas for each wireless communication standard or sharedantennas for multiple wireless communication standards. The UE 120 maycommunicate in a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personalarea network (WPAN), and/or a wireless wide area network (WWAN).

In one embodiment, eNB 110 may transmit data to the UE 120 on a physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH). The communication of data on the PDSCHmay be controlled via a control channel, referred to as a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH). The PDCCH may be used for downlink(DL) and uplink (UL) resource assignments, transmit power commands, andpaging indicators. The downlink PDSCH scheduling grant may be designatedto a particular UE for dedicated PDSCH resource allocation to carryUE-specific traffic, or it may be designated to all UEs in the cell forcommon PDSCH resource allocation to carry broadcast control informationsuch as system information or paging.

The data carried on PDCCH may be referred to as downlink controlinformation (DCI). There may be several formats that are defined for aDCI message. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may be usedto transmit downlink control information (DCI) that may transportresource allocations or scheduling related to downlink resourceassignments on the PDSCH, uplink resource grants, and/or uplink powercontrol commands or other control information. For example, Format 0 maybe used for scheduling of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Format1 may be used for scheduling of a PDSCH codeword in a cell. Format 1Amay be used to for compact scheduling of a PDSCH codeword in a cell andrandom access procedure. Format 1B may be used for compact scheduling ofa PDSCH codeword in a cell with precoding information. Format 1C may beused for very compact scheduling of a PDSCH codeword. Format 1D may beused for compact scheduling of a PDSCH codeword in a cell with precodingand power offset information. Further, a DCI format may further compriseFormat 2/2A/2B/2C/2D for transmission of control information such asPDSCH related allocation and Format 3/3A for transmission of atransmission power control (TPC) command for an uplink channel.

This list may not intend to be complete. Additional formats may also beused. As the complexity of wireless networks increases, such as the useof HetNets having multiple different types of nodes, other formats maybe created to carry the desired downlink control information.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a structure of a downlink physicalchannel. In one embodiment, a signal that represents the downlinkphysical channel may be coded, e.g., by a coder, to generate coded bits.Some coding process may be outlined in the 3GPP LTE specification. Thecoded bits for the physical channel may be multiplexed to generate ablock of data, e.g., in a codeword. In some embodiments, the size of theblock of data may match the amount of resource elements that can be usedby the physical channel. As shown in FIG. 2, a scrambling module orscrambler may scramble 202 the coded bits in the codeword to betransmitted on the physical channel. The scrambled bits may undergomodulation (204), e.g., by a modulating module or modulator. Forexample, Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) may be used to createcomplex-valued modulation symbols. In other embodiments, other types ofmodulation, such as Bi-Phase Shift Keying (BPSK), 16 QuadratureAmplitude Modulation (16-QAM), 32-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and so forth maybe used.

The complex symbols may be mapped (206), e.g., by a layer mapping moduleor layer mapper, to one or more transmission layers, e.g., depending ona number of transmission antenna ports used at an eNode B. A precodingmodule or precoder may precode (208) the complex-valued modulationsymbols on each layer to generate an output for transmission oncorresponding antenna ports. For example, precoding for transmissiondiversity may be performed for two or four antennas in legacy systemsbased on the 3GPP LTE Rel. 8 specification or more complex systems suchas an eNode B with eight antennas. The complex valued modulation symbolsfor each antenna may be mapped (210) to resource elements, e.g., by aresource mapping module or resource mapper. In some embodiments,time-domain (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signalfor each antenna port may be generated from the resource mappedcomplex-valued symbols. The time-domain OFDM signal may be sent tocorresponding antenna port of the eNB for transmission.

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram of a downlink resource grid structureaccording to an embodiment. A radio frame may have a duration T_(f), of,e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms). Each radio frame may be segmented or dividedinto one or more subframes that are each 1 ms long. Each subframe may befurther subdivided into two slots, each with a duration, T_(slot), of0.5 ms. For example, FIG. 3 illustrates a slot 310 with a duration ofT_(slot) for a downlink channel. The downlink slot 310 may contains anumber N_(symb) ^(DL) of OFDM symbols.

A resource element (RE) 330 may be the smallest identifiable unit oftransmission. The resource element 330 may be identified by the indexpair (k, l) in a slot, where k=0, . . . , N_(RB) ^(DL)N_(sc) ^(RB)−1 andl=0, . . . , N_(symb) ^(DL)−1 are the indices in the frequency and timedomains, respectively. Transmissions may be scheduled in larger unitssuch as resource blocks (RBs) 340 that may comprise a number N_(sc)^(RB) of adjacent subcarriers for a period of, e.g., a 0.5 ms timeslot.Resource block 340 may be used to describe the mapping of a physicalchannel to resource elements. For example, a physical resource block 340may be defined as N_(symb) ^(DL) consecutive OFDM symbols in time domainand N_(sc) ^(RB) consecutive subcarriers in frequency domain. A physicalresource block (RB) 340 may consist of N_(symb) ^(DL)×N_(sc) ^(RB)resource elements that may correspond to one slot in the time domainand, e.g., 180 kHz in the frequency domain.

In one embodiment, an RB 340 may include, e.g., 12-15 kHz subcarriersand, e.g., 7 OFDM symbols per subcarrier, e.g., for short or normalcyclic prefix. In another embodiment, an RB 340 may use six OFDM symbolsif an extended cyclic prefix is used. In some embodiments, an RB maycomprise a different number of one or more OFDM symbols. The resourceblock 340 may be mapped to 84 resource elements (REs) 330 using short ornormal cyclic prefixing, or the resource block may be mapped to 72 REs(not shown) using extended cyclic prefixing. The RE may be a unit of oneOFDM symbol by one subcarrier (e.g., 15 kHz). The RE 330 may transmittwo bits of information using QPSK. In some embodiments, the number ofbits communicated per RE may be dependent on the level of modulation.

FIG. 4 illustrates a mapping of a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS)or a UE specific reference signal (UE-RS) to antenna ports according toan embodiment. In 3GPP LTE specifications, some designs for ademodulation reference signal are described. In 3GPP LTE Rel-9, duallayer beamforming based transmission mode 8 (TM8) is introduced. In TM8,a UE may perform channel estimation based on DM-RS or UE-RS todemodulate the received PDSCH. In one embodiment, a transmission on aDM-RS antenna port or a UE-RS antenna port may be precoded via the sameprecoder as its associated PDSCH layer. For Multi-UserMulti-Input-Multi-Output (MU-MIMO), transparent MU-MIMO may be supportedbecause DM-RS or UE-RS overhead may not change with an increase ofMU-MIMO transmission rank. For example, in maximum, e.g., four rank oneusers may be served in a MU-MIMO transmission. In another embodiment, ascrambling identity n_(SCID) may be used to support four rank one userswith two antenna ports 7 and 8 for DM-RS or UE-RS transmission. Forexample, four rank one users may use {DM-RS port, n_(SCID)} pair, e.g.,{7/8, 0/1} to generate one or more DM-RS or UE-RS sequences. In oneembodiment, DM-RS or UE-RS with different n_(SCID) may not be orthogonaland eNB may rely on spatial precoding to mitigate an inter-userinterference.

In 3GPP LTE Rel-10, a transmission mode 9 (TM9) may be used to extendthe DM-RS or UE-RS structure of TM8 to support up to rank eightSingle-User Multi-Input-Multi-Output (SU-MIMO) transmission. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 4, a first group of 12 REs, e.g., 410, may bereserved for DM-RS or UE-RS antenna ports {7, 8}. Two DM-RS or UE-RSantenna ports {11, 13} may be added to the same 12 REs of DM-RS or UE-RSports {7, 8} using length four orthogonal cover code. The first group of12 REs, e.g., 410, may be used for the four DM-RS or UE-RS ports {7, 8,11, 13}. As shown in FIG. 4, a second group of 12 REs, e.g., 420 may bereserved for other four DM-RS antenna ports {9, 10, 12, 14}. If thetransmission rank is greater than 2, both groups DM-RS ports are used.In another embodiment, for MU-MIMO, TM9 may keep the same MU-MIMOtransmission order as TM8.

In LTE Rel-11, a transmission mode 10 (TM10) may be used to keep thesame DM-RS structure as TM9 except that TM 9 may use a physical cell IDto initialize the DM-RS or UE-RS sequence. TM10 may configure twovirtual cell IDs for each UE, e.g., via radio resource control (RRC)signaling. In TM10, scrambling identity (SCID) signaling in DCI Format2D may dynamically choose one of the two virtual cell IDs to initializethe DM-RS or UE-RS sequence for a given PDSCH transmission. With theintroduction of virtual cell ID, a physical cell may configure itsserved UEs with maximum 504 different virtual cell IDs. Together with 2orthogonal DM-RS or UE-RS ports and 2 different SCIDs, a physical cellmay configure its served UEs with 2016 unique DM-RS or UE-RS sequences.The number of the DM-RS or UE-RS sequences may be sufficient to supporthigh order MU-MIMO transmission.

In one embodiment, orthogonal structure in MU-MIMO may be extended to alarger number of layers. In some embodiments, two UEs with rank twotransmissions or four UEs with rank one transmission may be used forDM-RS or UE-RS enhancements to allow orthogonal DM-RS or UE-RSmultiplexing. One example may use, e.g., four orthogonal DM-RS or UE-RSantenna ports with, e.g., 24 REs and orthogonal complimentary code (OCC)of length=2. Another example may use, e.g, four orthogonal DM-RS orUE-RS ports with, e.g., 12 REs and OCC length=4. The two examples mayput some restriction in the UE scheduling algorithm. For example, a UEassigned with said antenna ports, e.g., four, may not be paired(co-scheduled) with another UE that may use the same antenna ports. Incontrast, for non-orthogonal DM-RS or UE-RS multiplexing with differentvirtual ID, UEs may be paired in a more flexible manner.

In one embodiment, resource block bundling may be used to improveperformance for DM-RS or UE-RS based transmission mode. In 3GPP LTERel-10 specification, if a UE is configured with Precoding MatrixIndication (PMI)/Rank Indication (RI) reporting, the UE may assume thesame precoding vector over one or more of adjacent RBs. Averaging, e.g.,channel estimation, over a larger number of RBs may improve channelestimation performance.

For example, a UE configured for transmission mode 9 for a serving cellmay assume that a precoding granularity is multiple resource blocks inthe frequency domain if PMI/RI reporting is configured. In anotherembodiment, for a serving cell, if a UE is configured for transmissionmode 10, and if PMI/RI reporting is configured for all configuredchannel-state information (CSI) processes for the serving cell, the UEmay assume that a precoding granularity is multiple resource blocks inthe frequency domain. Otherwise, the UE may assume the precodinggranularity is one resource block in the frequency domain.

One embodiment may utilize Precoding Resource block Group (PRG)bundling. One or more (e.g., fixed) system bandwidth dependent PRGs ofsize P′ may partition the system bandwidth. Each PRG may consist of oneor more consecutive physical resource blocks (PRBs). If N_(RB) ^(DL) modP′>0, one of the PRGs may have a size N_(RB) ^(DL)−P′└N_(RB) ^(DL)/P′┘,wherein N_(RB) ^(DL) may represent a system bandwidth that maycorrespond to a number of resource blocks in a downlink channel and P′may represent a number of physical resource blocks in a PRG. The PRGsize may be non-increasing starting at the lowest frequency, e.g., asshown in Table 1. The UE may assume that the same precoder may apply onall scheduled PRBs within a PRG. In one embodiment, the PRG size a UEmay assume for a system bandwidth may be given by Table 1:

TABLE 1 System Bandwidth (N_(RB) ^(DL)) PRG Size (P′) (PRBs) ≤10 1 11-262 27-63 3  64-110 2

As shown in the example of Table 1, a PRG size of 2 RBs for a downlinkchannel (e.g., a 20 MHz channel) may be used for a system bandwidth of,e.g., 64-100 resource blocks. A smaller PRG size may limit a channelestimation efficiency, e.g., in a frequency flat channel or a channelwith a lower frequency selectivity, e.g., in a Full DimensionMulti-Input-Multi-Output (FD-MIMO) antenna configuration that may beused at the eNB for a downlink transmission.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method 500 for DM-RS or UE-RSenhancement, e.g, for a non-orthogonal DM-RS or UE-RS design. Forexample, eNB 110 may use different scrambling identities for differentusers in a MU-MIMO transmission to generate one or more DM-RS or UE-RSsequences that may be non-orthogonal. The eNB 110 may multiplex, e.g.via a multiplexer, the non-orthogonal DM-RS or UE-RS sequences of theUEs. A UE with the non-orthogonal DM-RS sequences may be provided moreflexibility in scheduling in MU-MIMO than a UE with orthogonal DM-RS orUE-RS multiplexing. In one embodiment, eNB 110 may perform, via aconfiguration circuitry or module or unit (not shown) in e.g.,controller 114, a configuration of a transmission mode based on DM-RS orUE-RS for, e.g., UE 120. The eNB 110 may perform a configuration of aprecoding resource group for UE 120 that may be correspond to thetransmission mode and may transmit a dynamic indication relating to theprecoding resource group that is used by UE, e.g., as shown in FIG. 5.

In various embodiments, eNB 110 may be configured to perform one or moreprocesses of FIG. 5. For example, the electronic device circuitry ofFIG. 9 may be or may be incorporated into or otherwise part of the eNB110. In one embodiment, eNB 110 may configure, e.g., via a configurationcircuitry or module or unit (not shown) in controller 114, a pluralityof one or more precoding resource group (PRG) sizes (or one or morecorresponding precoding granularities) to generate a precodinggranularity configuration for UE 120. In one embodiment, the precodinggranularity configuration of UE 120 may comprise a configuration of oneor more PRG sizes and/or one or more precoding granularitiescorresponding to the one or more PRG sizes for a system bandwidth for UE120. In one embodiment, eNB 110 may preconfigure a plurality of one ormore PRGs that may each have a PRG size (or precoding granularity)indicated in the precoding granularity configuration, e.g., via apreconfiguration circuitry or module or unit (not shown) in controller114. In one embodiment, the configuration circuitry may be coupled withthe preconfiguration circuitry.

The eNB 110 may identify, e.g., by the controller 114, a preconfiguredPRG relating to the precoding granularity configuration of UE 120 from aplurality of one or more preconfigured PRGs relating to the precodinggranularity configuration (510). In 510, controller 114 may identifyfrom the plurality of preconfigured PRGs a preconfigured PRG with a PRGsize and/or a precoding granularity corresponding to a PDSCH scheduling.In some embodiments, the controller 114 may comprise an identifyingcircuitry or module or unit (not shown) to identify the preconfiguredPRG. In one embodiment, the configuration circuitry may be coupled tothe identifying circuitry.

In one embodiment, eNB 110 may utilize Precoding Resource block Group(PRG) bundling that may, e.g., improve DM-RS or UE-RS based transmissionmode. A PRG may consist of one or more consecutive physical resourceblocks (PRBs). If N_(RB) ^(DL) mod P′>0, one of the PRGs may have a sizeN_(RB) ^(DL)−P′└N_(RB) ^(DL)/P′┘, wherein N_(RB) ^(DL) may represent asystem bandwidth that may correspond to a number of resource blocks in adownlink channel and P′ may represent a number of physical resourceblocks in a PRG. The UE may assume that the same precoder may apply onall scheduled PRBs within a PRG. In one embodiment, the PRG size a UEmay assume for a system bandwidth may be given by Table 2.

For example, eNB 110 may increase a PRG size in an example of FD-MIMO,e.g., as shown in FIG. 2 via RRC signaling. For example, for FD-MIMO,eNB 110 may identify a preconfigured PRG with a PRG size larger than asize in LTE-A release 10 specification based on a PDSCH scheduling(510). In another embodiment, if PDSCH is scheduled by DCI formats 2X,where X=A, B, C and D, eNB 110 may identify a preconfigured PRG with alarger PRG size than a size in a LTE-A release 10 specification (510).In some embodiments, a larger PRG size may provide a better channelestimation performance in, e.g., FD-MIMO, via a higher channelestimation processing gain over a larger number of resource blocks. Theprecoding resource block size as shown in Table 2 may be used for, e.g.,FD-MIMO or other channel with a lower frequency selectivity and/or aPDSCH with a DCI format of, e.g., 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D. In one embodiment, aPRG size may be in accordance with a size of resource block groups (RBG)in a system bandwidth, e.g., as shown in Table 2:

TABLE 2 System Bandwidth PRG Size (P′) (N_(RB) ^(DL)) (PRBs) ≤10 1 11-262 27-63 3  64-110 4

In one embodiment, to support a fallback operation to a smaller PRGsize, the eNB 110 may use a larger PRG size, e.g., as shown in Table 2,only for DCI formats 2A, 2B, 2C and/or 2D that may each schedule a PDSCHtransmission. In another embodiment, a legacy PRB bundling, e.g., asshown in Table 1, may be used for DCI Format 1A or 1C that may be usedfor a PDSCH transmission in Multimedia Broadcast Multicast ServiceSingle Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframes.

In 520, eNB 110 may transmit to the UE, via transmitter 112, anindication for the identified preconfigured PRG, e.g., via DCI signaling(520). In one embodiment, the indication may dynamically indicate thePRG size of the identified preconfigured PRG. In the example of FD-MIMO,the eNB 110 may use the dynamic indication to notify one or more UEs ofthe increased PRG size for FD-MIMO via DCI signaling (520). In theexample of DCI format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D, transmitter 112 may transmit toUE 120 the dynamic indication that may comprise an indication of theincreased PRG size for the identified preconfigured PRG for DCI format2A, 2B, 2C, or 2D (520). In the example of DCI format 1A or 1C,transmitter 112 may transmit to UE 120 the dynamic indication that maycomprise an indication of a PRG size in accordance with LTE-A release 10specification for DCI format 1A or 1C. In one embodiment, theidentifying circuitry may be coupled with the transmitter 112.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method 600 for DM-RS or UE-RSenhancement. In one embodiment, the method 600 may be used by a UE 120of FIG. 1. For example, the electronic device circuitry of FIG. 9 may beor may be incorporated into or otherwise part of UE 120. UE 120 mayidentify, e.g., by controller 124, a plurality of one or morepreconfigured PRGs relating to a precoding granularity configuration ofthe UE 120 received, by receiver 126 from eNB 110 via higher layersignaling such as RRC (610). In one embodiment, controller 124 maycomprise an identifying circuitry or module or unit (now shown) toidentify the plurality of preconfigured PRGs that may each have a PRGsize and/or a precoding granularity indicated in the precodinggranularity configuration. In one embodiment, the identifying circuitrymay be coupled with the receiver 122.

UE 120 may further receive from eNB 110 by receiver 126, e.g., via DCIsignaling, an indication of a preconfigured PRG that may be identified(e.g., 510) by eNB 110 from the plurality of preconfigured PRGs (620).For example, the indication may dynamically comprise a PRG size of theidentified preconfigured PRG. In 630, UE 120 may further receive, by thereceiver 126 from eNB 110, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)transmission with the same precoding in the identified preconfiguredPRG, wherein the PRG size of the identified preconfigured PRG may beindicated by the dynamic indication. In one embodiment, a precodinggranularity corresponding to the PRG size may be the same for thephysical resources blocks within the identified preconfigured PRG.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method 700 for DM-RS or UE-RSenhancements. The method 700 may be used by an eNB 110 of FIG. 1. Forexample, the electronic device circuitry of FIG. 9 may be or may beincorporated into or otherwise part of the eNB 110. In 710, eNB 110 mayconfigure, e.g., by a configuration circuitry or module or unit (notshown) in controller 112, one or more precoding granularities and/or PRBsizes at UE 120. In some embodiment, eNB 110 may indicate, bytransmitter 112 to UE 120, the one or more precoding granularities orcorresponding PRG sizes via RRC signaling or other higher layersignaling. In one embodiment, the configuration circuitry may be coupledwith the transmitter 112.

In 720, the eNB 110 may determine or identify a precoding granularityand/or a corresponding PRG size based on a PDSCH scheduling. Forexample, eNB 110 may use a determining or identifying circuitry ormodule or unit (not shown) in controller 114 for block 720. For example,the eNB 110 may determine a smaller precoding granularity, e.g., alarger PRG size as shown in Table 2, for a PDSCH schedulingcorresponding to a transmission for a single user (SU) MIMO. In someembodiment, the determining or identifying circuitry may be coupled withthe configuration circuitry and/or the transmitter 112. In someembodiments, SU-MIMO may have a fixed PRB size and block 720 may not berequired. In another embodiment, the eNB 110 may determine a largerprecoding granularity, e.g., a smaller PRG size as shown in Table 1, forDCI Format 1A or 1C, e.g., for a PDSCH transmission in MBSFN subframes.

In another embodiment, in 720, the determining or identifying circuitryor module or unit may increase a PRG size (i.e., decrease a precodinggranularity), e.g., as shown in Table 2, based on a number of resourceblock groups (RBGs) in a system bandwidth of a MU-MIMO or based on asub-band size used for precoding matrix indicator (PMI) reporting fromUE 120. In some embodiments, a number of physical resource blocks in aPRG may be identical to or be a multiple of a number of resource blockgroups in a system bandwidth. In some embodiments, a number of physicalresource blocks in a precoding resource group may be equal to or bemultiple of a sub-band size of a precoding matrix indicator (PMI)report.

In 730, the eNB 110 may indicate, e.g., by transmitter 112, to UE 120one of the configured precoding granularities or PRG size that isdetermined in 720, e.g., via DCI signaling. In 740, the eNB 740 maytransmit PDSCH with the precoding granularity indicated to the UE 110.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1000 for DM-RS or UE-RSenhancements. In one embodiment, the method 1000 may be used by UE 120.For example, the electronic device circuitry of FIG. 9 may be or may beincorporated into or otherwise part of UE 120. In 1010, UE 120 mayreceive, by receiver 126 from eNB 110, a precoding granularityconfiguration for UE 120, e.g., via RRC signaling. The precodinggranularity configuration may comprise PRG sizes (or one or moreprecoding granularities) that may each correspond to a preconfigured PRGfor a given system bandwidth for UE 120. In 1020, UE 120 may identify aplurality of one or more preconfigured PRGs based on the precodinggranularity configuration by controller 124, e.g., an identifyingcircuitry or module or unit in controller 124 (not shown). In oneembodiment, the identifying circuitry may be coupled with the receiver126.

In 1030, UE 120 may further receive, by receiver 126 from eNB 110, adynamic indication of an identified precoding granularity (or anidentified PRG size), e.g., via DCI signaling. In one embodiment, eNB110 may determine the identified precoding granularity (or theidentified PRG size) from the plurality of precoding granularities,e.g., based on a PDSCH scheduling (720). In 1040, UE 120 may identify apreconfigured PRG from the plurality of preconfigured PRGs based on theidentified precoding granularity and/or PRG size, e.g., by acorresponding identifying circuitry or module or unit (not shown) incontroller 124. In one embodiment, the corresponding identifyingcircuitry may be coupled with the receiver 126. In some embodiments,blocks 1020 and/or 1040 may be performed by the same identifyingcircuitry. For example, UE 120 may group one or more physical resourceblocks to form the preconfigured PRG based on the identified precodinggranularity or PRG size. In 1050, UE 120, e.g., receiver 126, mayreceive from eNB 110 a PDSCH transmission with a precoding that is thesame for one or more physical resource blocks in the preconfigured PRGas identified in 1040.

Embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using anysuitably configured hardware, software and/or firmware. FIG. 8illustrates, for one embodiment, an example system comprising radiofrequency (RF) circuitry 830, baseband circuitry 820, applicationcircuitry 810, memory/storage 840, display 802, camera 804, sensor 806,and input/output (I/O) interface 808, coupled with each other at leastas shown.

The application circuitry 810 may include circuitry such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Theprocessor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processorsand dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, applicationprocessors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with memory/storage andconfigured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage toenable various applications and/or operating systems running on thesystem.

The baseband circuitry 820 may include circuitry such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Theprocessor(s) may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitrymay handle various radio control functions that enables communicationwith one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry. The radio controlfunctions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation,encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments,the baseband circuitry may provide for communication compatible with oneor more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, thebaseband circuitry may support communication with an evolved universalterrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wirelessmetropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN),a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which thebaseband circuitry is configured to support radio communications of morethan one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode basebandcircuitry.

In various embodiments, baseband circuitry 820 may include circuitry tooperate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in abaseband frequency. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitrymay include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediatefrequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

RF circuitry 830 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 830 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 830 may include circuitryto operate with signals that are not limited to a radio frequency. Forexample, in some embodiments, RF circuitry 830 may include circuitry tooperate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is betweena baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

In various embodiments, transmit circuitry, control circuitry, and/orreceive circuitry discussed or described herein may be embodied in wholeor in part in one or more of the RF circuitry 830, the basebandcircuitry 820, and/or the application circuitry 810. As used herein, theterm “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor(shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, orgroup) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, acombinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware componentsthat provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, theelectronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functionsassociated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or moresoftware or firmware modules or units.

In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of thebaseband circuitry 820, the application circuitry 810, and/or thememory/storage may be implemented together on a system on a chip (SOC).

Memory/storage 840 may be used to load and store data and/orinstructions, for example, for system. Memory/storage 840 for oneembodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory(e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM)) and/or non-volatile memory(e.g., Flash memory).

In various embodiments, the I/O interface 808 may include one or moreuser interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the systemand/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheralcomponent interaction with the system. User interfaces may include, butare not limited to a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker,a microphone, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but arenot limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB)port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface.

In various embodiments sensor may include one or more sensing devices todetermine environmental conditions and/or location information relatedto the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are notlimited to, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, anambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit mayalso be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry and/or RFcircuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, e.g.,a global positioning system (GPS) satellite.

In various embodiments, the display 802 may include a display (e.g., aliquid crystal display, a touch screen display, etc.).

In various embodiments, the system may be a mobile computing device suchas, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computingdevice, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, etc. In variousembodiments, system may have more or less components, and/or differentarchitectures.

FIG. 9 illustrates electronic device circuitry according to anembodiment. The electronic device circuitry may be eNB circuitry, UEcircuitry, or some other type of circuitry in accordance with variousembodiments. In embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be, ormay be incorporated into or otherwise a part of, an eNB, a UE, or someother type of electronic device. The electronic device circuitry mayinclude radio transmit circuitry and receive circuitry coupled tocontrol circuitry. In embodiments, the transmit and/or receive circuitrymay be elements or modules or units of transceiver circuitry, as shown.The electronic device circuitry may be coupled with one or moreplurality of antenna elements of one or more antennas. The electronicdevice circuitry and/or the components of the electronic devicecircuitry may be configured to perform operations similar to thosedescribed herein.

In embodiments where the electronic device circuitry is or isincorporated into or otherwise part of an eNB, the control circuitry maybe to identify a preconfigured precoding resource group relating to aprecoding granularity configuration of a UE from a plurality of one ormore preconfigured PRGs related to the precoding granularityconfiguration of the UE, wherein the plurality of one or morepreconfigured PRGs are configured based on one or more higher levelsignals. The transmit circuitry may be to transmit, to the UE, a dynamicindication of the identified preconfigured PRG.

In embodiments where the electronic device circuitry is or isincorporated into or otherwise part of the UE, the control circuitry mayidentify, based on higher layer signaling, a plurality of one or morepreconfigured PRGs relating to a precoding granularity configuration ofthe UE, wherein the preconfigured PRGs may be preconfigured based onhigher layer signaling, e.g., RRC signaling, from an eNB. The receivecircuitry may receive, from an eNB, a dynamic indication of a precodingresource group from the plurality of precoding resource groups. Thereceive circuitry may be further to receive a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) transmission with a precoding that may be the same forone or more physical resource blocks in the precoding resource group,wherein the precoding resource group may have a PRG size indicated inthe dynamic indication.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, orinclude an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electroniccircuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory(shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software orfirmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitablehardware components that provide the described functionality. In someembodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, orfunctions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one ormore software or firmware modules or units.

In embodiments the electronic device circuitry of FIG. 9 may beconfigured to perform one or more processes such as the process of FIGS.4-7. For example, if the electronic device circuitry of FIG. 9 is or isincorporated into or otherwise part of an eNB, the process may includeidentifying a preconfigured precoding resource group related to aprecoding granularity configuration of a user equipment (UE) from aplurality of one or more preconfigured PRGs related to the precodinggranularity configuration of the UE. The process may further includetransmitting, to the UE, a dynamic indication of the identifiedpreconfigured PRG.

Examples

Example 1 may include a method of precoding granularity configurationand signaling in LTE-A, the method comprising: higher layerconfiguration of user equipment (UE) with transmission mode based onuser equipment specific reference signals (UE-RS); higher layerconfiguration of a precoding resource group; and dynamic indicationrelating to the precoding resource group that is used by UE.

Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one higher layer configured precoding group isin accordance to the size of LTE-A Release 10 specification.

Example 3 may include the method of example 1 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least higher layer configured precoding groups has alarger number of resource blocks (RB) in the configured precoding groupthan in LTE-A Release 10 specification.

Example 4 may include the method of example 1 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication includes an indication related towhich precoding resource group size N among higher layer configured isvalid for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

Example 5 may include the method of example 4 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the same precoding and/or power assignment is used overthe N adjacent RBs.

Example 6 may include the method of example 5 or some other example(s)herein, wherein dynamic indication is downlink control based information(DCI) using at least one of DCI Format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D.

Example 7 may include the method of example 1 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding granularity is in accordance to the sizeof LTE-A Release 10 specification, where PDSCH is scheduled with DCIFormat 1A or 1C.

Example 8 may include a method comprising: identifying, by an evolvedNodeB (eNB), a preconfigured precoding resource group related to aprecoding granularity configuration of a user equipment (UE) from aplurality of one or more preconfigured precoding resource groups relatedto the precoding granularity configuration of the UE; and transmitting,by the eNB to the UE, a dynamic indication for the identifiedpreconfigured precoding resource group.

Example 9 may include the method of example 8 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is in accordance withRelease 10 of long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 10 may include the method of example 8 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is larger than anumber of RBs that is in accordance with Release 10 of long termevolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 11 may include the method of example 8 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication may include an indication relatedto which precoding resource group having a size N among thepreconfigured precoding resource groups is currently valid for physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH).

Example 12 may include the method of example 11 or some other example(s)herein, wherein a same precoding and power assignment is used over Nadjacent RBs of the precoding resource group having a size N.

Example 13 may include the method of example 12 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication is a downlink control information(DCI) using at least one of DCI Format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D.

Example 14 may include the method of example 8 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding granularity is in accordance with a longterm evolution-advanced (LTE-A) Release 10 specification, and wherein aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission is scheduled withdownlink control information (DCI) Format 1A or 1C.

Example 15 may include the method of example 8 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the preconfigured precoding resource groups arepreconfigured by a higher layer.

Example 16 may include an evolved NodeB (eNB) comprising: controlcircuitry to identify a preconfigured precoding resource group relatedto a precoding granularity configuration of a user equipment (UE) from aplurality of one or more preconfigured precoding resource groups relatedto the precoding granularity configuration of the UE, wherein theplurality of preconfigured precoding resource groups are configuredbased on one or more higher level signals; and transmit circuitrycoupled with the control circuitry, the transmit circuitry to transmit,to the UE, a dynamic indication for the identified preconfiguredprecoding resource group.

Example 17 may include the eNB of example 16 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is in accordance withRelease 10 of long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 18 may include the eNB of example 16 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is larger than anumber of RBs that is in accordance with Release 10 of long termevolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 19 may include the eNB of example 16 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication includes an indication related towhich precoding resource group having a size N among the preconfiguredprecoding resource groups is currently valid for physical downlinkshared channel (PDSCH).

Example 20 may include the eNB of example 19 or some other example(s)herein, wherein a same precoding and power assignment is used over Nadjacent RBs of the precoding resource group having a size N.

Example 21 may include the eNB of example 20 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication is a downlink control information(DCI) using at least one of DCI Format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D.

Example 22 may include the eNB of example 16 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding granularity is in accordance with a longterm evolution-advanced (LTE-A) Release 10 specification, and wherein aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission is scheduled withdownlink control information (DCI) Format 1A or 1C.

Example 23 may include a method comprising: identifying, by a userequipment (UE) based on higher layer signaling, a plurality of one ormore preconfigured precoding resource groups related to a precodinggranularity configuration of the UE; receiving, by the UE from an eNB, adynamic indication for a precoding resource group from the plurality ofprecoding resource groups; and receiving, by the UE, a physical downlinkshared channel (PDSCH) transmission using a precoding that is the samefor one or more physical resource blocks in the precoding resourcegroup, wherein the precoding resource group size may be dynamicallyindicated by the dynamic indication.

Example 24 may include the method of example 23 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is in accordance withRelease 10 of long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 25 may include the method of example 23 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is larger than anumber of RBs that is in accordance with Release 10 of long termevolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 26 may include the method of example 23 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication includes an indication related towhich precoding resource group having a size N among the preconfiguredprecoding resource groups is currently valid for PDSCH.

Example 27 may include the method of example 26 or some other example(s)herein, wherein a same precoding and power assignment is used over Nadjacent RBs of the precoding resource group having a size N.

Example 28 may include the method of example 27 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication is a downlink control information(DCI) using at least one of DCI Format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D.

Example 29 may include the method of example 23 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding granularity is in accordance with a longterm evolution-advanced (LTE-A) Release 10 specification, and whereinthe PDSCH transmission is scheduled with downlink control information(DCI) Format 1A or 1C.

Example 30 may include the method of example 23 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the preconfigured precoding resource groups arepreconfigured by a higher layer.

Example 31 may include a user equipment (UE) comprising: controlcircuitry to identify, based on higher layer signaling, a plurality ofone or more preconfigured precoding resource groups related to aprecoding granularity configuration of the UE, wherein the preconfiguredprecoding resource groups are preconfigured based on one or more higherlayer signals; and receive circuitry coupled with the control circuitry,the receive circuitry to receive, from an eNB, a dynamic indication fora precoding resource group from the plurality of preconfigured precodingresource groups; and receive a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)transmission with a precoding that is the same for one or more physicalresource blocks in the the precoding resource group.

Example 32 may include the UE of example 31 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is in accordance withRelease 10 of long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 33 may include the UE of example 31 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is larger than anumber of RBs that is in accordance with Release 10 of long termevolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 34 may include the UE of example 31 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication includes an indication related towhich precoding resource group having a size N among the preconfiguredprecoding resource groups is currently valid for PDSCH.

Example 35 may include the UE of example 34 or some other example(s)herein, wherein a same precoding and power assignment is used over Nadjacent RBs of the precoding resource group having a size N.

Example 36 may include the UE of example 35 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication is a downlink control information(DCI) using at least one of DCI Format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D.

Example 37 may include the UE of example 31 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding granularity is in accordance with a longterm evolution-advanced (LTE-A) Release 10 specification, and whereinthe PDSCH transmission is scheduled with downlink control information(DCI) Format 1A.

Example of 38 may comprise a method, comprising: configuring atransmission mode for a user equipment (UE) based on user equipmentspecific reference signals (UE-RS); configuring at least one precodingresource group; and providing a dynamic indication to indicate whichprecoding resource group is used.

Example 39 may include the method of example 38 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one precoding resource group is in accordancewith a size in LTE-A Release 10 specification.

Example 40 may include the method of example 38 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the at least one precoding resource group has a largernumber of physical resource blocks (PRB) than in LTE-A Release 10specification.

Example 41 may include the method of example 38 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the at least one precoding resource group has a sizethat is equal to or a multiple of a size of resource block group (RBG)of a system bandwidth.

Example 42 may include the method of example 38 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding resource group is equal to or a multipleof a sub-band size of a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) report.

Example 43 may include the method of example 38 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding resource group indicated by the dynamicindication is used to transmit physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

Example 44 may include the method of example 38 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the same precoding and/or power assignment is used overone or more adjacent RBs of the precoding resource group indicated bythe dynamic indication.

Example 45 may include the method of example 38 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication is for a downlink control basedinformation (DCI) using at least one of DCI Format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D.

Example 46 may include the method of example 43 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding granularity is in accordance with the sizeof LTE-A Release 10 specification for PDSCH scheduled with DCI Format 1Aor 1C.

Example 47 may comprise a method, comprising: identifying, by an evolvedNodeB (eNB), a preconfigured precoding resource group related to aprecoding granularity configuration of a user equipment (UE) from aplurality of one or more preconfigured precoding resource groups relatedto the precoding granularity configuration of the UE; and transmitting,by the eNB to the UE, a dynamic indication of the identifiedpreconfigured precoding resource group.

Example 48 may include the method of example 47 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the plurality of preconfigured precodingresource groups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is largerthan a number of RBs that is in accordance with Release 10 of long termevolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 49 may include the method of example 47 or some other example(s)herein, wherein a same precoding and power assignment is used over oneor more adjacent RBs of the identified precoding resource group.

Example 50 may include the method of example 47 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication is to indicate that theidentified precoding resource group is used on physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH).

Example 51 may include the method of example 47 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the identified precoding resource group has one or moreadjacent RBs and wherein a number of the adjacent RBs is determinedbased on a bandwidth of the PDSCH.

Example 52 may comprise an evolved NodeB (eNB), comprising: controlcircuitry to identify a preconfigured precoding resource group relatedto a precoding granularity configuration of a user equipment (UE) from aplurality of one or more preconfigured precoding resource groups relatedto the precoding granularity configuration of the UE, wherein theplurality of preconfigured precoding resource groups are configuredbased on one or more higher level signals; and transmit circuitrycoupled with the control circuitry, the transmit circuitry to transmit,to the UE, a dynamic indication of the identified preconfiguredprecoding resource group.

Example 53 may include the eNB of example 52 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is in accordance withRelease 10 of long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 54 may include the eNB of example 52 or some other example(s)herein, wherein at least one of the preconfigured precoding resourcegroups has a number of resource blocks (RBs) that is larger than anumber of RBs that is in accordance with Release 10 of long termevolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 55 may include the eNB of example 52 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication includes an indication related tothe identified preconfigured precoding resource group that is used totransmit physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

Example 56 may include the eNB of example 52 or some other example(s)herein, wherein a same precoding and power assignment is used over Nadjacent RBs of the identified precoding resource group, wherein Nrepresents a number of physical recourse blocks in the identifiedprecoding resource group.

Example 57 may include the eNB of example 52 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the dynamic indication is a downlink control information(DCI) using at least one of DCI Format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D.

Example 58 may include the eNB of example 52 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding granularity is in accordance with a longterm evolution-advanced (LTE-A) Release 10 specification, and wherein aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission is scheduled withdownlink control information (DCI) Format 1A or 1C.

Example 59 may comprise a non-transitory machine-readable medium havinginstructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a user equipmentto: identify a plurality of one or more preconfigured precoding resourcegroups related to a precoding granularity configuration of the UE basedon higher layer signaling; receive a dynamic indication for a precodingresource group from the plurality of precoding resource groups; andreceive a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission with aprecoding that is the same for one or more physical resource blocks inthe precoding resource group, the precoding resource group to have aprecoding size indicated in the dynamic indication.

Example 60 may include the non-transitory machine-readable medium ofexample 59 or some other example(s) herein, wherein at least one of thepreconfigured precoding resource groups has a number of resource blocks(RBs) that is in accordance with Release 10 of long termevolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 61 may include the non-transitory machine-readable medium ofexample 59 or some other example(s) herein, wherein at least one of thepreconfigured precoding resource groups has a number of resource blocks(RBs) that is larger than a number of RBs that is in accordance withRelease 10 of long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) specifications.

Example 62 may include the non-transitory machine-readable medium ofexample 59 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the dynamicindication is for a downlink control information (DCI) using at leastone of DCI Format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D.

Example 63 may include the non-transitory machine-readable medium ofexample 59 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the precodinggranularity is in accordance with a long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A)Release 10 specification, and wherein the PDSCH transmission isscheduled with downlink control information (DCI) Format 1A or 1C.

Example 64 may comprise a user equipment (UE), comprising: receivecircuitry to receive, from an eNB, a configuration of a set of one ormore precoding granularities and an indication of a precodinggranularity from the set of one or more precoding granularities; andcontrol circuitry coupled with the receive circuitry, the controlcircuitry to identify a set of one or more precoding resource groupsbased on the configuration of set of one or more precodinggranularities, and to identify a precoding resource group from the setof one or more precoding resource groups based on the indication of theprecoding granularity.

Example 65 may include the UE of example 64 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the receive circuitry further to receive a PDSCH fromthe eNB with a precoding that is the same for one or more physicalresource blocks in the precoding resource group identified from the setof one or more precoding resource groups.

Example 66 may include the UE of example 64 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the control circuitry further to group a set of one ormore physical resource blocks based on the indication of the precodinggranularity to form the precoding resource group.

Example 67 may include the UE of example 64 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the control circuitry further to identify the precodingresource group to have a larger number of physical resource blocks thanin LTE-A Release 10 specification based on the indication of theprecoding granularity.

Example 68 may include the UE of example 64 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the control circuitry is further to identify theprecoding resource group to have a size identical to or be a multiple ofa sub-band size of a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) report of the UE.

Example 69 may include the UE of example 64 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the control circuitry is further to identify theprecoding resource group for a downlink control based information (DCI)using at least one of DCI Format 2A, 2B, 2C or 2D.

Example 70 may include the UE of example 64 or some other example(s)herein, wherein the precoding granularity is in accordance with a longterm evolution-advanced (LTE-A) Release 10 specification for PDSCHscheduled with DCI Format 1A or 1C

Example 71 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1-15, 23-30, 38-51 and/or any other method or process described herein.

Example 72 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-15, 23-30, 38-51 and/or any othermethod or process described herein.

Example 73 may include an apparatus comprising control circuitry,transmit circuitry, and/or receive circuitry to perform one or moreelements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-15,23-30, 38-51 and/or any other method or process described herein.

Example 74 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 75 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 76 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

It should be understood that many of the functional units described inthis specification have been labeled as modules or units, in order tomore particularly emphasize their implementation independence. Forexample, a module or unit may be implemented as a hardware circuitcomprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelfsemiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discretecomponents. A module or unit may also be implemented in programmablehardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmablearray logic, programmable logic devices or the like.

Modules or units may also be implemented in software for execution byvarious types of processors. An identified module or unit of executablecode may, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocksof computer instructions, which may, for instance, be organized as anobject, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executable code of anidentified module or unit need not be physically located together, butmay comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which,when joined logically together, comprise the module or unit and achievethe stated purpose for the module or unit.

A module or unit of executable code may be a single instruction, or manyinstructions, and may even be distributed over several different codesegments, among different programs, and across several memory devices.Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated hereinwithin modules or units, and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork. The modules or units may be passive or active, including agentsoperable to perform desired functions.

Reference throughout this specification to “an example” means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the example is included in at least one embodiment of the presentinvention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in an example” in variousplaces throughout this specification are not necessarily all referringto the same embodiment.

As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositionalelements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list forconvenience. However, these lists should be construed as though eachmember of the list is individually identified as a separate and uniquemember. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed asan equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on theirpresentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. Inaddition, various embodiments and example of the present invention maybe referred to herein along with alternatives for the various componentsthereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, andalternatives are not to be construed as equivalents of one another, butare to be considered as separate and autonomous representations of thepresent invention.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are provided, such asexamples of search spaces, to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art willrecognize, however, that the invention may be practiced without one ormore of the specific details, or with other methods, components,materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, oroperations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuringaspects of the invention.

While the forgoing examples are illustrative of the principles of thepresent invention in one or more particular applications, it will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerousmodifications in form, usage and details of implementation may be madewithout the exercise of inventive faculty, and without departing fromthe principles and concepts of the invention. Accordingly, it is notintended that the invention be limited, except as by the claims setforth below.

While the methods of FIGS. 1, 2, 7 and 8 is illustrated to comprise asequence of processes, the methods in some embodiments may performillustrated processes in a different order.

While certain features of the invention have been described withreference to embodiments, the description is not intended to beconstrued in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the embodiments,as well as other embodiments of the invention, which are apparent topersons skilled in the art to which the invention pertains are deemed tolie within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. One or more non-transitory, computer-readablemedia having instructions that, when executed, cause a user equipmentto: determine a format of downlink control information (DCI) thatschedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission;determine a precoding granularity based on the format; and decode thePDSCH transmission based on the precoding granularity.
 2. The one ormore non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein anumber of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a precoding resource blockgroup (PRG) is based on the precoding granularity.
 3. The one or morenon-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 2, wherein to decodethe PDSCH transmission, the UE is to assume a same precoder applies onall scheduled PRBs in the PRG.
 4. The one or more non-transitory,computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, further cause the UE to: receive one or more higher-layerparameters to configure a plurality of precoding granularities; andselect the precoding granularity from the plurality of precodinggranularities based on the DCI.
 5. The one or more non-transitory,computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the higher-layer parameterscomprise radio resource control parameters.
 6. An apparatus comprising:receive circuitry to receive radio resource control signaling, downlinkcontrol information (DCI), and a physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) transmission; and control circuitry coupled with the receivecircuitry to: determine, based on the radio resource control signaling,configuration of a plurality of precoding granularities; determine,based on the DCI, a precoding granularity from the plurality ofprecoding granularities; and decode the PDSCH transmission based on theprecoding granularity.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the PDSCHtransmission is on a number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in aprecoding resource block group (PRG) that is based on the precodinggranularity.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein to decode the PDSCHtransmission, the control circuitry is to assume a same precoder applieson all scheduled PRBs in the PRG.
 9. The apparatus of claim 6, whereinthe control circuitry is to determine the precoding granularity based ona format of the DCI.
 10. One or more non-transitory, computer-readablemedia having instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:configure a user equipment (UE) with a plurality of precodinggranularities; transmit downlink control information (DCI) to the UE toschedule a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission and toindicate a precoding granularity of the plurality of precodinggranularities; and transmit the PDSCH transmission to the UE.
 11. Theone or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 10, whereinthe instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to: encodethe PDSCH transmission based on the precoding granularity.
 12. The oneor more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein theinstructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to encode thePDSCH transmission on a number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in aprecoding resource block group (PRG) that is based on the precodinggranularity.
 13. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable mediaof claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause theapparatus to encode the PDSCH transmission with a same precoder on thenumber of PRBs in the PRG.
 14. The one or more non-transitory,computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein to configure the UE withthe plurality of precoding granularities the apparatus is to: provide anindication of the plurality of precoding granularities in radio resourcecontrol signaling.
 15. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readablemedia of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed, furthercause the apparatus to determine the precoding granularity based on aPDSCH scheduling decision.
 16. An apparatus comprising: transmitcircuitry; control circuitry, coupled with the transmit circuitry, tocause the transmit circuitry to: transmit downlink control information(DCI) to a user equipment (UE) to schedule a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) transmission and to indicate a precoding granularityassociated with the PDSCH transmission; transmit the PDSCH transmissionto the UE.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the control circuitryis further to cause the transmit circuitry to: transmit radio resourcecontrol signaling to the UE to configure the UE with a plurality ofprecoding granularities, the plurality precoding granularities toinclude the precoding granularity.
 18. The apparatus of claim 16,wherein the control circuitry is further to encode the PDSCHtransmission based on the precoding granularity.
 19. The apparatus ofclaim 16, wherein the control circuitry is to to encode the PDSCHtransmission on a number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in aprecoding resource block group (PRG) that is based on the precodinggranularity.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the controlcircuitry is to to encode the PDSCH transmission with a same precoder onthe number of PRBs in the PRG.